When most people think about artwork, they gravitate toward the things you can place in your home to admire: paintings, sculptures, figurines and other such items. Not many look at their yards and fewer still will look at the birds and consider what sort of feeder to build for the flitting avians.

This makes 91-year-old Jim Houghton rather unique in a community known for having quite a few talented artists, as he chooses to spend his days at his workbench measuring, cutting, assembling and finally painting birdhouses you will not find anywhere else.

“I built a few before I retired but I really started after I retired and moved in here,” said Houghton, who can be found at his workbench every day in the parking garage of the Lofts on the Bow after his morning bike ride.

While never a big part of his life, Houghton always had a knack for carpentry that came from living on a farm. Sometimes it would involve helping to build a barn or fixing a fence, but more often it was a way to pass the time in the evening, building functional items ironing boards and chairs as well as trucks and rocking chairs for the kids.

Despite his skill with woodworking, it was never really something that Houghton gave much thought to growing up in the area. Instead, he kept his sights on farm work, spent some time at Spray Lake Sawmills, did some welding for Shell after going back to school at 50 and started his retirement by working at the local gas plant.

It was not until 18 years ago when his wife Margie was running a B&B that he put some elbow grease into his hobby and started making eye-catching birdhouses that were more than four walls and a roof.

“I just wanted to try something different,” Houghton recalled, building birdhouses framed like barns, lighthouses, chalets, grain elevators and the occasional pattern his boys would show him, though most of the time he would go off his imagination.

“Most of mine didn’t have patterns. I just drew them up from out of my head,” said Houghton, which is how he came up with one of his personal favourite creations, a birdhouse Winnebago.

Seeing his creations people visiting the B&B would be taken aback and ask how much one cost, and before long he developed a bit of a reputation around town as the guy you want to build a birdhouse for your backyard.

“What really gets people is they’re shingled,” said Houghton, which is probably the most time-consuming part of building his birdhouses as a regular barn will require about 180 shingles for the roof to give it that authentic look people love so much.

Beyond his usual rural designs for birdhouses, Houghton also takes up the odd challenge like a teapot that pours birdseed into a saucer and unique requests like having a birdhouse shaped like an apartment building with feed in the different rooms.

“He didn’t think I could build it and I got it made, and he couldn’t believe how good it looks,” Houghton said of the man who commissioned the apartment birdhouse, adding he has done churches, squirrel and butterfly houses and even replicated childhood homes in the past.

“As soon as someone sees them they’re gone,” said Houghton, which is the case both at the B&B and now that he is in the Lofts where residents and their children and grandchildren will often stop by to see what he is working on next.

“If they’re not in a hurry, I’ll build one,” said Houghton, noting that he is slowing his pace now that he is over 90 so he can take his time with his hobby and enjoy the process.

So if you do not mind waiting a few weeks for a unique bird house, you can give him a call at 403-932-5550. Otherwise, you can always come out to the Kimmett Cup and place your bid on one of his creations, which often proves to be a popular item at the silent auction.